Genesis Revised – Day 7

Rejoice in creation’s seventh season interpreted by nature!  The structured circular poetry concludes in a blessing of rest and contemplation.  Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text guides us into the next phase of human development.

Genesis 2

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.  ² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (NIV)

The poet concludes in rest.  He says God ceased creating.  That does not mean natural processes stopped.  Just like the continuation of Earth orbiting the sun, life continues, as always, to evolve.  The results God wanted had begun to unfold, so He waited.  God watched things change into what He wanted.  As always, He interacted gently with creation to further its development.  God concentrated one species out of many.  He grew one people out of nations.  God developed knowledge out of ignorance.

This “holy day” is not called Sabbath, a law instituted at Mount Sinai.  But like Sabbath, the Poet invites the reader to contemplate the loving details of God’s creation in relation to covenant with the Creator.  God expects us to take time to understand.  He makes this a sacred endeavor.

Day 7 does not end.  Poetically, that means Abraham, Moses and all the prophets lived in the seventh season God called holy.  Not just good, but holy.  God set this time aside as incredibly special, a time that would produce His likeness.  Biblically, that season died on the cross with Jesus.  Because of His death and resurrection, something new started and we become new creations.  We live in the eighth day, the time of new beginnings.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Genesis Revised – Introduction + Day 1, The Big Bang

Genesis Revised – Day 2, Opening Sky and Ocean

Genesis Revised – Day 3, Opening Land

Genesis Revised – Day 4, Filling the Universe

Genesis Revised – Day 5, the Evolution of Life

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v24-25, the Land Animals

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v26-27 and “God’s Image”

Genesis Revised – Day 6 v28-31 “Dominion”

Genesis Revised – The Second Genesis

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited